With more and more people getting into the fitness groove, the demand for wireless earphones has been growing steadily in India. There are several big brands such as JBL, Sennheiser, Sony, Philips, Bose, and Apple that have made their presence felt in the market. However, most of them are expensive and deter price-sensitive consumers in India.
If you are looking for a pair of value-for-money wireless headphones, TAGG is one such brand that promises to offer exactly that. I have been using the company's Sports+ earphone for a month now and here is my review.
Design:
TAGG Sports+ comes with a futuristic design language with in-ear pods. They are connected by sturdy chords with a tactile controller, a well-defined button for changing music and also equidistant volume rockers (+ and -) placed at each end.
You can feel the premium quality of the earphones when it held in hand. The thoughtful incorporation of magnets at the end of the earphones is also considered as a big value addition to the design. If the user is not using the earphones, they need not take it off. Instead, they can just attach them back-to-back and can leave it secured in the neck.
If the user still wants to take it off, there is a compact sturdy capsule to store the earphones. It also comes with mesh on the pocket for micro-USB cable and enough space to keep the additional ear-buds, in case, the user happens to lose one.
It also comes with a special coating to sustain sweat and stop it from seeping into the interiors. I have to say the flap that covers the micro-USB port is quite rigid and it is really difficult to pull it off without fingernails to charge the device.
It is not, however, a deal breaker as it does the job of preventing dust from settling on the port.
User-experience:
I have no major complaints in this aspect. To get started with the TAGG Sports+ is as easy as it can get. I just had to long-press the power button for five seconds following which it automatically switches on and starts looking for smart devices to pair. Once it was connected, I was able to easily navigate songs (forward and backwards), increase or decrease the volume and also answer calls with just a tap on the power button.
Audio quality:
During tests, I tried to listen to all genres of music like hip-hop, classical Carnatic, metal, blues, electronics digital music (EDM) and several others. TAGG Sports+ was able to perform really well owing to the Qualcomm's CSR8645 chipset that supports APT-X codec and stereo surround sound. All said and done, it is pretty good for a product priced under Rs 3,599 (MRP - Rs 5,999).
Even when the volume is turned up, there is very little in terms of breaks in the musician's voice. However, we discourage our readers from listening to songs in high volume, be it over-head or in-ear phones. The long-term exposure could cause irreparable damage to the hearing.
Battery life:
As advertised, the battery life was close to seven hours during our tests. This is impressive, considering it is a device with a 120mAh battery. The charging speed, however, is pretty disappointing. It takes around two hours to get completely charged.
Final thoughts:
TAGG Sports+ is one of the best cost-effective earphones for the price of Rs 3,499. It ticks all the boxes including good audio quality, futuristic design and the special coating to protect from sweat getting into the internal parts. It also has a sturdy build quality, magnetic attachment feature for earbuds and the user-interface is quite uncomplicated.
If you are looking at value-for-money earphones, especially while you are jogging or even during the long commutes to the office, you have to go for the TAGG Sports+.
TAGG Sports+ parameters:
- Playback time: Up to 7 hours
- Talk time: 8-9 hours
- Standby time: 150 hours
- Bluetooth (v4.1): 6-8 meters (around 20 feet) range with CSR 8645 and CVC 6.0 noise cancellation feature
- Add-ons: Supports stereo sound output, APT-X audio decode technology, voice prompts for operating mode and built-in microphone. It also shuts down automatically after under unpaired status for more than five minutes.
- Power input: DC 5V 500mA
- Weight:15 grams
